PALMER STATION
SCIENCE SITREP
December 2002
Dr. Hugh Ducklow, Station Science Leader
NEWS FROM THE LAB
Hugh Ducklow
Last month the Palmer bywords were icebergs, turkey and mattresses. The
icebergs remained, turkey also - along with roast beef at Christmas, and
steaks at New Years, as Palmer Station began moved into the summer
season, celebrating the holidays and doing science with equal vigor. We
continue to marvel at the myriads of icebergs in our neighborhood. As the
weather warms and the sun moves higher in the sky, they are melting,
softening and turtling, but several have become familiar landmarks in the
Arthur Harbor seascape.
The other feature of Palmer life this past month has been whales.
Humpbacks and Minkes have been almost daily visitors to the harbor.
Each weekend or holiday saw Zodiacs of whale seekers and they were
invariably successful. We even adopted a spotter strategy, with hikers on
the glacier behind the station informing the boaters where the whales were
on the radio. The whales add to the wildlife bonanza that is Palmer
Station.
The following projects conducted research at Palmer Station this month:
BP-013-P: PALMER, ANTARCTICA LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL
RESEARCH PROJECT: LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL
RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM:
CLIMATE MIGRATION, ECOSYSTEM RESPONSE AND
TELECONNECTIONS IN AN ICE-DOMINATED
ENVIRONMENT: SEABIRD COMPONENT
Dr. William R. Fraser, Principal Investigator, Polar Oceans Research
Group, Sheridan, MT.
BO-198-O: MONITORING THE EFFECTS OF TOURISM AND
ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABILITY ON ADELIE PENGUINS AT
PALMER STATION, ANTARCTICA
Dr. William R. Fraser, Principal Investigator, Polar Oceans Research
Group, Sheridan, MT.
Personnel on station: Chris Denker, Brett Pickering and Cindy Anderson
Overall weather and ice conditions for the month of December did not
effect the movements of BP-013 allowing us twenty-eight days of
sampling. Two days were lost due to high winds (Dec 13-14) and one due
to ice (Dec 15). The arrival of the Laurence M. Gould on January 4
brought reinforcements. Dr. Bill Fraser, Donna Patterson, and Jennifer
Jerrett will be staying on station, while Heidi Geisz and Brett Pickering
departed on the annual LTER summer cruise.
Adelie penguin population counts were conducted on Torgersen, Humble,
Litchfield, Christine, and Cormorant Islands. Reproductive sites were
followed on Torgersen and Humble giving us true hatch dates on the
majority of nests. Satellite transmitters were deployed on breeding male
and female Adelies. Thirty presence/absence tags have also been
deployed. A single trip to Dream Island was conducted on the 22nd for
Chinstrap penguin censusing.
Southern Giant Petrel work began mid-month. Actively breeding adults
are in the process of being censused on all area islands. Satellite
transmitters have been deployed, and will be switched every two weeks in
order to increase the data set.
South Polar and Brown Skua study sites have been visited every five days
to determine arrival dates, pair formation, territory establishment, and egg
laying. The south polar skuas are arriving in greater numbers, however no
eggs have been seen at this time. Brown skuas began hatching in early
January. Blue-eyed shags are being monitored every five days on
Cormorant Island with hatches being observed mid month. Marine
mammal observations are conducted daily within the two-mile boating
limit. Humpback whales have been most numerous with sittings being
reported almost daily.
Three large tour ships visited Palmer Station during the month of
December as well as three small sailboats. Tourist visits were monitored
on Torgersen Island to obtain data on tourist flow, and to compare aspects
of Adelie reproductive biology and ecology with control sites not visited
by tourists.
Special thanks to the Raytheon staff. The carpenters insured our telemetry
hut will not blow away for yet another year, while the comms tech, Jeff
Kietzmann, provided quality assistance in the telemetry set-up.
BP-016-P: PALMER, ANTARCTICA LONG-TERM
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH PROJECT: LONG-TERM
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE
ECOSYSTEM: CLIMATE MIGRATION, ECOSYSTEM
RESPONSE AND TELECONNECTIONS IN AN ICE-DOMINATED
ENVIRONMENT: PHYTOPLANKTON ECOLOGY COMPONENT
Dr. Maria Vernet, Principal Investigator, Scripps Institution of
Oceanography
Personnel on station: Wendy Kozlowski, Karie Sines, Lauren Rogers and
Michelle Ferrara
A combination of excellent weather, calm sea conditions and a little bit of
good luck allowed full profile core sampling at stations B and E to be
completed nine times over the course of the month of December.
Preliminary estimates of primary production show continued low levels,
increasing slightly toward the middle of the month. Average December
production was about half what we saw in November, which is only
slightly lower than average production during the same time period one
year ago. Chlorophyll levels closely track these production estimates as
well.
Four more DOC (phytoplankton production/heterotrophic uptake)
experiments and three more microzooplankton grazing experiments were
also done during December. The fast repetition rate fluorometer (FRRF)
was set up in the aquarium for nearly the entire month as well, and
continuous, time series data was collected on the sea water intake flow.
The dissolved inorganic nutrient analyzer was set up and tested, pigment
sample analysis (HPLC) began, and the last few days of the month were
spent preparing for the annual summer cruise.
We would like to give a huge thanks to Jeff Kietzman and Jeff Otten for
their assistance with the prr and frrf this past month, as well to the Palmer
FEMC crew for their rapid response and quality craftsmanship to our
various support needs.
BP-028-P: PALMER, ANTARCTICA LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL
RESEARCH PROJECT: LONG-TERM ECOLOGICAL
RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ECOSYSTEM:
CLIMATE MIGRATION, ECOSYSTEM RESPONSE AND
TELECONNECTIONS IN AN ICE-DOMINATED
ENVIRONMENT: PREY COMPONENT.
Drs. Robin Ross and Langdon Quetin, Principal Investigators, Marine
Science Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara
Personnel on station: Dan Martin, Stephanie Oakes, Charlie Boch (Marine
Science Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara), and Emily
Lindsey (Brown University).
The LTER spring sampling continued to run smoothly through the month
of December. The weather remained unusually calm, and waters relatively
ice free in terms of boating access, although brash ice conditions
sometimes altered our schedule. Icebergs still dominate the seascape, but
have only caused small detours in the acoustic transects.
Turnover in the field personnel occurred as the 1 December LMG port call
brought us Emily Lindsey, and the 20 December shuttle took Stephanie
Oakes home for the holidays. Dan Martin turned over to work with BP-
022 on 25 December while Charlie and Emily remained to continue the
acoustic transects, growth experiments, and sample processing until they
the board the LMG for the January LTER cruise.
With persistent trawling efforts we were able to keep on the schedule set
for our LTER sampling protocols and growth experiments. Krill juveniles
and young adults dominated the catches while the larger and more
reproductively mature individuals remained rare or absent through this
time period (these observations were also been reflected in the seabird diet
samples collected by BP-013). To date, we have completed 10 growth rate
experiments and CHN samplings, and acquired our extensive "post-
bloom" samplings for chemical composition/physiological condition for
both young of the year and young adults. Any time remaining has been
spent processing growth, fluorescence, and fecal pellet production samples
from the winter cruise, and the growth and additional whole-body
fluorescence experiments run this season. Stephanie Oakes continued with
her dissertation work to complete a total of 13 surface and 7 water column
feeding experiments. In addition, the collaboration with BO-179 regarding
the use of molecular techniques to investigate krill feeding ecology was
taken to the point of optimizing DNA amplification and subsequent
DGGE band extractions for sequencing stateside.
As January begins we are taking down experiments, packing for the LTER
cruise, and cleaning up the lab as we vacate our space for the season. And,
again, we owe a huge thanks to all Palmer Station personnel for their
dedication in providing excellent support and helping to make this a
productive and successful season.
BP-032-P: PALMER, ANTARCTICA LONG-TERM
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH PROJECT: LONG-TERM
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE
ECOSYSTEM: CLIMATE MIGRATION, ECOSYSTEM
RESPONSE AND TELECONNECTIONS IN AN ICE-DOMINATED
ENVIRONMENT: BIO-OPTICS, REMOTE SENSING, SEA ICE
COMPONENT
Dr. Raymond C. Smith, Principal Investigator, ICESS, University of
California at Santa Barbara
Personnel on station: Kim McCoy and Graham Tilbury
The first weeks of December were used to familiarize the members of BP-
016 with the deployment, retrieval, maintenance and data acquisition of
the automated profiling vehicle (APV) to be moored in the Palmer inshore
vicinity. The APV was deployed twice in the Arthur Harbor area, 05
December for 65 hours and 07 December for 48 hours, with successful
retrieval and viable data. The instrument became inoperable when
attempts were made to replace the batteries on 07 December and remained
so for the remainder of the month. During this time, work was done with
an acoustic release to be used for deeper-water APV deployments
(>100m). Larger scaled moorings were fabricated for these increased
depths and bathymetry surveys were also conducted.
Efforts were made to determine the resistance of the mooring to the
weather and ice surrounding Palmer station. The mooring was found to
resist much of the small pieces of ice in the area but was pulled from the
water when several large bergs entered Arthur Harbor. We hope for more
favorable ice conditions for deployment in the coming months.
Many hours were spent with boating coordinator, Doug Fink in our efforts
to establish feasible mooring deployment and recovery practices. We
would very much like to thank him for all his patience and availability.
We would also like to thank communications tech Jeff Kietzmann for his
assistance in the repair of the APV.
BP-045-O: PALMER, ANTARCTICA LONG-TERM
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH PROJECT: LONG-TERM
ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH ON THE ANTARCTIC MARINE
ECOSYSTEM: CLIMATE MIGRATION, ECOSYSTEM
RESPONSE AND TELECONNECTIONS IN AN ICE-DOMINATED
ENVIRONMENT: MICROBIAL/BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
COMPONENT
Dr. Hugh Ducklow, Principal Investigator, School of Marine Science, The
College of William and Mary
Personnel on station: Hugh Ducklow
We continued routine sampling (in conjunction with, and assisted by BP-
016) for prokaryote abundance, bacterial production and dissolved organic
carbon semiweekly at Stations A, B and E of the LTER inshore grid.
Measurements of DOC release from phytoplankton are being performed in
cooperation with Maria Vernet's group (BP-016, W. Kozlowski, L.
Rogers and M. Ferrara). Large volume (~40-80 liter) particulate organic
matter samples are taken once per week from Station A. Our dissolved
organic matter concentrator (Separation Engineering, Inc.), is nearly
operational, due to the efforts of RPSC staff Barb Watson, Gary Jirschele
and Tom Curran. Terrestrial organic matter sampling on Stepping Stones
Island was conducted during the Palmer Science Support Group (Cara
Sucher, Barb Watson, Doug Fink, Jeff Otten) Christmas survey.
The latter part of December was spent staging for the LTER summer
cruise (LMG03-01), departing January 05.
BO-179-O: GENE EXPRESSION IN EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS:
EXTENDING MICROARRAY TECHNOLOGY TO UNDERSTAND
LIFE AT ITS LIMITS.
Dr. Alison E. Murray, Principal Investigator, Desert Research Institute,
Reno, Nevada.
Personnel on station: Alison Murray (DRI), Joe Grzymski (Rockefeller
University), and Alison Kelley (DRI)
The final 20 days of the BO-179-0 field season at Palmer Station were
exceedingly productive (albeit exhausting). Open water prevailed with
only a few days of weather-restricted conditions. The local region was
crowded with large icebergs, at times sitting on top of our sampling
stations. Field efforts included collections at LTER stations C and I on
three occasions, the seawater intake system on one occasion and execution
of 3 mesocosm experiments (lasting 36-60 hours). The phytoplankton
bloom that occurred in late November dissipated and a new water mass
appeared to move in with very low levels of chlorophyll a (ranging from
0.2 to 0.6 ug/L on different sampling dates in December) and lower
numbers of bacterioplankton.
Three mesocosm experiments (in 100L tanks) were conducted under
various conditions. (1) A thermal tolerance/stress experiment was
conducted in both environmental rooms operating at different
temperatures. (2) Two phytoplankton blooms at different stages in their
growth cycle were used as inoculum for incubations in 4 tanks under 24
hour light at 1.0 C. (3) A third set of experiments was conducted with
additions of antibiotic and dissolved inorganic carbon in both light and
dark conditions at 1.0 C. The thermal and phytoplankton mesocosms were
sampled for basic chemical and biological parameters, then cells were
concentrated with a tangential flow filtration system, while the third
mesocosm experiment had a more limited subsampling regime. Protein
production and community respiration measurements were conducted at
the initiation and end point of most mesocosm experiments. Though the
methods development of the fiber optic oxygen sensors is still in progress,
the data sets appear to be yielding promising measurements. Extracted
RNA from all mesocosm experiments will be assayed for differential gene
expression back at the molecular microbial ecology laboratory at the DRI.
Days between sampling events were spent processing samples, which
included nucleic acid extractions, PCR surveys (for functional genes 16S
rDNA sequence diversity and semiquantitative archaeal 16S rRNA
amplification), salinity measurements, chlorophyll a determinations,
bacterial abundance, and maintenance of marine bacterial cultures.
Bacterial 16S diversity was also monitored over the course of the
mesocosm experiments by analyzing amplified 16S rRNA genes with
denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Marine bacterial isolates
were also screened by DGGE to assess heterogeneity of the culture
collection. This proved to be quite useful for identifying common
isolates.
Collaborations with other LTER groups on station continued through the
month. Joe Gryzmski (BO-179-0) worked with the Vernet group (BP-
016-P) to rig the fast repetition rate fluorometer in the aquarium room to
obtain real time measurements of phytoplankton physiology from the
seawater intake system. A 48 hour collaborative experiment then ensued
utilizing the FRRF and subsamples from the system. Additionally, the
collaboration with the Ross and Quetin group (BP-028-P) made promising
headway in evaluating the potential for using molecular approaches in krill
diet analysis.
Generous thanks are extended to all of the RPSC support staff at Palmer
Station in helping make this a very successful and memorable field
season. The assistance of the lab staff, Barb Watson and Cara Sucher, as
well as the boating coordinator, Doug Fink, and FEMC crew (especially
Gary Jirschele) were keys to our success.
AO-106-P GLOBAL THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY AND ITS
EFFECTS ON THE RADIATION BELTS AND THE LOWER
IONOSPHERE
Umran Inan, Principal Investigator, Stanford University.
The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the
project.
The Stanford equipment receives and records Very Low Frequency (VLF)
radio waves in order to study natural ionospheric and magnetospheric
phenomena, as well as to study the distribution of the lightning strikes that
are a principle source of natural VLF signals.
GO-052-P GPS CONTINUOUSLY OPERATING REFERENCE
STATION
Jerry Mullins, Principal Investigator, U.S. Geological Survey.
The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the
project.
Throughout the month, 15 second epoch GPS transmissions were collected
continually at station PALM. Each day, the previous day's data file was
examined for completeness, compressed, and transmitted to the USGS in
Reston, VA.
During the first part of the month, 0.5 second epoch GPS transmissions
were also collected continually. This data was passed on to NASA and
Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECS) for use in improving the accuracy
of their aerial surveying of the glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula in the
Pine Island Bay area. The surveying, which uses a laser altimeter, is part
of a study to investigate areas of ice that have begun quite recently to thin,
apparently following removal or weakening of ice shelves into which they
flowed.
The base station transmitting antenna was replaced with a new one.
GO-090-P GLOBAL SEISMOGRAPH NETWORK (GSN) SITE AT
PALMER STATION
Rhett Butler, Principal Investigator, Incorporated Research Institutions for
Seismology (IRIS).
The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the
project.
Station PMSA is one of more than 130 sites in the GSN, monitoring
seismic waves produced by events worldwide. Data files are recorded to
tape and also sent to the USGS in real time.
OO-204-O A STUDY OF ATMOSPHERIC OXYGEN
VARIABILITY IN RELATION TO ANNUAL TO DECADAL
VARIATIONS IN TERRESTRIAL AND MARINE ECOSYSTEMS
Ralph Keeling, Principal Investigator, Scripps Institution of
Oceanography.
Air samples are collected on a semiweekly basis by the station physician.
The goal of this project is to resolve seasonal and interannual variations in
atmospheric O2 (detected through changes in O2/N2 ratio), which can aid
in determining rates of marine biological productivity and ocean mixing.
The results are also used to help determine the terrestrial and oceanic
distribution of the global anthropogenic CO2 sink. The program involves
air sampling at a network of sites in both the Northern and Southern
Hemispheres. Palmer Station is especially well situated for resolving
signals of carbon cycling in the Southern Ocean. Samples taken from the
station are sent to Scripps where the analysis of O2 and CO2 content takes
place.
OO-264-O COLLECTION OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR FOR THE
NOAA\CMDL WORLDWIDE FLASK SAMPLING NETWORK
David Hofmann, Principal Investigator, Climate Monitoring and
Diagnostics Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
Air samples are collected on a weekly basis by the station physician.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate
Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory continues its long term
measurements of carbon dioxide and other climate relevant atmospheric
gases. The Palmer Station air samples are returned to the NOAA
laboratory for analysis as part of NOAA's effort to determine and assess
the long term buildup of global pollutants in the atmosphere. Data from
this experiment will be used in modeling studies to determine how the rate
of change of these parameters affects climate.
OO-275-O DOE-EML REMOTE ATMOSPHERIC
MEASUREMENTS PROGRAM (RAMP) Colin Sanderson, Principal
Investigator, Department of Energy, Environmental Measurements
Laboratory.
The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the
project.
The RAMP system is part of a global network seeking to characterize the
quantity and distribution of radionuclide particles occurring both naturally
and artificially in the atmosphere.
One sample filter was exposed for the duration of each week, and a
weekly schedule of calibration, background, and sample counts was
maintained.
OO-283-P ANTARCTIC AUTOMATIC WEATHER STATIONS
(AWS)
Charles Stearns, Principal Investigator, University of Wisconsin.
The Science Technician monitors data transmissions for the project.
AWS transmissions from Bonaparte Point, Hugo Island, and RACER
Rock were monitored using the TeraScan system. The RACER Rock
anemometer is broken. The Hugo Island AWS is not currently
transmitting.
The electronics from the Hugo Island AWS installation were delivered to
Palmer Station where they were diagnosed. The problem was determined
to be nonrepairable on site so the electronics were returned to the
University of Wisconsin for repair.
TO-312-O TERASCAN SATELLITE IMAGING SYSTEM
Dan Lubin, Principal Investigator, Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the
project.
Throughout the month, the TeraScan system collected, archived, and
processed DMSP and NOAA satellite telemetry, capturing approximately
25 passes per day.
An 85GHz SSM/I "ice concentration" image was produced and transferred
to UCSB for BP-032-P (Smith) on a weekly basis.
TO-513-O ULTRAVIOLET SPECTRORADIOMETER NETWORK
Charles Booth, Principal Investigator, Biospherical Instruments, Inc.
The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the
project.
The BSI UV monitor produces full sky irradiance spectra ranging from the
atmospheric UV cutoff near 290nm up to 605nm, four times per hour,
while the sun is above the horizon.
TIDE GAGE
Tony Amos, Point of Contact, The University of Texas Marine Science
Institute.
The Science Technician operates and maintains on-site equipment for the
project.
Tide height and sea water temperature and salinity are monitored on a
continual basis by a gage mounted at the Palmer Station pier.
METEOROLOGY
Each day, three synoptic weather observations were performed, coded, and
sent to Rothera Station via HF radio. At the end of the month, a summary
report was prepared and sent to interested parties.
Data from the PALMOS electronic weather system was used to create a
wind rose for the past year, indicating how frequently and how strongly
the wind blew from each compass direction.
A spreadsheet was created with a macro that will remove garbage
characters from the data files that the PALMOS electronic weather system
has created for the past year.
A subset of the PALMOS electronic weather data was prepared for BO-
179-O.
Numerous tests were made to locate the source of the problem of garbage
characters showing up intermittently on the serial line coming from the
PALMOS ZENO data logger. The problem appears to be due to
differences between the RS232/RS485 converters on either end of the
transmission line. Oddly enough, most of the problem disappeared after
increasing the baud rate.
Adding a termination resistor to the RS-485 signal line stopped one of the
two error messages that show up in the electronic log, but the second error
message remains. This second error message may also be due to
incompatible converters on either end of the transmission line.
Two new versions of the Report Generator software were received from
Coastal Environmental Systems. These versions do not corrupt the
operating system, but they completely hang during their initial
configuration and so cannot be used. Manual synoptic observations will
have to be continued until Coastal fixes this software.